The Escapists Hands-On Preview
That’s it. Your life as you know it is over. As the judge’s gavel slams and you hear the word “guilty” you have no idea what’s waiting for you in prison. What will you make of life in confinement? Will you be able to do everything that is required to make your sentence as smooth as possible or will you try to escape and live your life as it once was? The Escapists from Mouldy Toof Studios and Team17 sees you living your day-to-day life in prison as you do whatever it takes to survive and, eventually, look to flee the punishing environment.
The Escapists is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, where a goal of £5,000 was stated but the game more than achieved this amount by reaching over £7,000. With many games outlaying a higher amount of money via crowd-funding sources, The Escapists doesn’t seem to over complicate matters or even visually impress. From the few hours I’ve played of it so far, it does allow for the player to play the game as they wish and leave their own impact on the prison.
As much as there is a heavy focus on graphics these days, The Escapists discounts the opinion as the game features pixelated graphics and is so basic that each character constantly looks as though they’re walking, even when they’re sitting. Despite the game’s basic appearance, there seems to be a thorough and gripping game.
While you can only select which default character you play as, you can name your inmate and then everything else is really up to you. The Escapists allows you to help out fellow inmates as they look for revenge or items which they have had stolen. You have the chance to view these favours and make a decision on them if they interfere with your plans or if they seem too risky. The reason I say ‘plans’ is because you can recruit various inmates to join you once you have built up enough of a reputation. Some of these favours include you having to beat-up fellow inmates, steal items from other inmates or from their cells. Again, there is more to merely doing this as there is a certain criteria which has to be met.
The quote which I remember from the film “Boyz n The Hood” is when Ice Cube says, “All you can do in the joint is eat and work out,” and while you can eat twice a day in The Escapists, you can work out as much as you wish. Gaining strength via bench presses and speed from treadmills are essential for dealing with your targets quicker and fleeing from the resulting guard beating. While there are RPG elements in The Escapists which show how well you are developing while incarcerated, you also have to maintain a job as well.
When you are first introduced to the game, you are provided with a job which requires you to reach a specific target each day. To begin with, I didn’t have a clue what to do as The Escapists throws you inside and doesn’t explain an awful lot. After the first day on the job I felt the full force of the warden as I was fired due to not reaching certain targets. In order to get another job you have to do two things: ensure that you are smart enough and make sure there is a job available. To get round these issues, I constantly visited the library to expand my mind and, once I was smart enough, I beat-up someone who was in an existing job, during work hours, so that they would get fired. Both worked out in my favour and it felt very satisfying.
As the game is entitled The Escapists, the ultimate objective is to eventually escape the grey walls and make your way to freedom. To do so, you can craft various objects such as a shovel or even a spoon to help you dig your way out. You see that guards are discussing fences being tampered with and that’s because fellow inmates have the same goal as you and are always hinting at breaking out, starting riots or fighting guards. Just the stereotypical impression of jail, then! Of the very few occasions I tried to escape, I was immediately shot at by surrounding guards as I stupidly attempted it during the day. When I tried it at night I was again spotted by a guard and ended up in a hospital bed.
Another thing which I have seen glimpses of is just how fun some of the narrative is. While there are no voice actors in the game, the dialogue is provided by characters speaking lines of text or notes from the hierarchy. Much like the stereotypical moments I’ve already mentioned, there are, of course, shower jokes and the over-the-top reactions from the guards whenever you slightly step out of line.
While I’ve only played a few hours of The Escapists, there does seem to be a very rewarding game which will challenge you to improve your character to help drive towards freedom. Once you think you are ready, you can pick your moment and make a break for it and, even if you don’t make it, there will always be a bed for you either in your cell or solitary confinement. The Early Access game is a solid experience and provides the player with a lot of choice to live out their sentence as long as they wish, before making that break for freedom!
The Early Access version of The Escapists is available now via Steam for £6.99